Digital Trends

ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro July 29th, 2003 | by Douglas Hall

Once again we tackle the ever increasing responsibility of capturing the essence of what can only be described as the world's hottest and fullest functioning video graphics card known to man. Tomorrow might be another story. For now the ATI line of graphics cards seem to get the lion's share of the video card market, and deservedly so. Full of features and adaptable to almost all your video graphics, the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro pushes ATI to the top of the video card food chain even though the price is high; but then again, value is where you find it. This particular card was designed for the high performance gaming market with an eye to home theater PC functionality. It is a wonder how ATI was able to fit all the features of this card into a board that has the same general mass of regular video cards. The All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro uses the same GPU (graphics processing unit) as the regular Radeon 9800 PRO gaming card except it is limited to 128MB of video memory versus 256MB available in the Radeon 9800PRO.

Since ATI has produced the two latest winners in the video card world these past two release cycles, it is not at all surprising that this one is an awesome performer and kicks the latest card from the nearest competitor down the street and bounces it off a light pole.

With the introduction of so many flavors of the 9800 card from ATI, 9800 Pro 128, TV Wonder, 9800 Pro 256, RADEON 9800 , RADEON 9800 PRO, and the ALL-IN-WONDER as we have here before us, it would seem as though ATI was trying to be all things to all people. O.K. by us! This particular video card is the latest from the greatest that technology has to offer today. So far all the indications are that the Radeon line is going strong and has continually produced an outstanding precedence within the video community.

Since our review of the ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV some ways back we seem to see the evidence that ATI is listening to the community and has addressed some issues that were brought up over the 8500 model that we feel compelled to comment on. Quoted from our 8500DV review:

"This card is for the multimedia enthusiast who wants it all. If you are a die-hard gamer that simply wants DVD playback and TV out, your best bet is to look somewhere else. This is not a card meant solely for gaming, but rather a compromise for the gamer and multimedia enthusiast. The 8500DV carries a hefty price tag at $399, but look at everything you get: A DVD player, Digital video recorder, video capture card, TV tuner and more, the $399 might not seem as bad. Where areas a DVD player may be outdated as well as a digital video recorder, the AIW 8500DV allows for expansion. Hard drive not big enough for your programming.... Throw in a new drive. ATI has hit the mark with this card and other than a few little irritating problems this card is one of the best on the market. The ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV is a real treat for the multimedia enthusiast." ~ Ian Bell

First off, the All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro is still for the multimedia enthusiast that wants it all. But if you are still a hardcore gamer at heart, there is little reason to look elsewhere this time as the All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro does quite well in the overall 3D gaming and benchmarking arena. The All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro however is not meant solely for gaming either, but it holds it's own better than a kindergarten student on a school bus with a bladder problem. Gone is the FireWire but other improvements to the PCB layout seem to make that hardly an issue. Also included this go around is a HDTV interface missing from the 8500DV and is now offered standard.